Tokyo Adds Fast-train Link

July 14, 1991|By N.Y. Times News Service.

Passengers will no longer have to transfer by regular train in Tokyo to connect with a bullet train. A 2.5-mile line connecting Tokyo and Ueno Stations in Tokyo opened June 20, allowing bullet trains to originate from Tokyo Station in the central part of the capital. The northbound Tohoku and Joetsu Shinkansen bullet trains will continue to stop uptown at Ueno before leaving the city.

Previously, bullet train passengers had to transfer by regular train or taxi from Tokyo station to Ueno to catch a northbound bullet train or from Ueno to Tokyo to connect with southbound trains. The two northbound bullet trains run to Morioka and to Niigata on the Sea of Japan coast. The southbound train goes to Kyoto and Fukuoka (Hakata). The linkup, which began 10 years ago, includes the 1,634-foot Okachimachi Tunnel and enables bullet trains to run through congested business districts.